Death Mage 286 – The Dragon Emperor God

The most mentally difficult task for Vandalieu was writing a reply to Selen, the Dhampir girl who was under the care of the Five-colored Blades. He wrote it with as much sincerity as he could, and had it sent via the Commerce Guild.

His reply listed out the reasons why they could not meet, reasons that were perhaps incomprehensible to Selen, who was an ordinary girl other than the fact that she was a Dhampir, but he did not think of her as childish.

There’ll be adults around her who belong to Alda’s peaceful faction, so it’ll be fine if they translate it for her, Vandalieu thought, feeling as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders as he left the Commerce Guild and headed for the empty warehouse that Kanako was using for her lessons.

He had arranged to meet an eccentric Elf bard who had apparently come to this city to interview him.

In truth, Vandalieu had actually already been interviewed by bards on several occasions, so there was no problem with being interviewed by this particular bard… Rudolf.

A day had passed since he had made his public return to the city of Morksi; he hadn’t arrived today. That was because he had been summoned by Earl Isaac Morksi to explain what had happened in Alcrem.

He hadn’t been able to prioritize anything above a request from the lord of the region.

“Nice to meet you. My name is Rudolf. Thank you very much for accepting my request for an interview,” said Rudolf, bowing his head.

Vandalieu immediately had a favorable impression of him. He was the most polite and respectful of the bards who had interviewed him so far.

“The pleasure is mine,” said Vandalieu. “However, if you are looking for someone to interview, wouldn’t my mother be a better candidate? Or is there something you wanted to know about Basdia and Zadiris?”

Darcia was more renowned in human society than Vandalieu was. And in the battle to defend Morksi, the efforts of Zadiris and Basdia, who were considered to be his familiars, were more well-known than Vandalieu’s.

Even many of the bards who had previously requested to interview Vandalieu were interested in what kind of person Darcia was from the perspective of her son, or wanted him to be a mediator while they heard from Zadiris and Basdia.

Vandalieu felt no annoyance or shock at the bards with these attitudes. He thought it was only natural, as he knew how the incident had been presented to the public. In fact, he was happier that he was able to boast about his mother and his companions.

“No,” said Rudolf. “Other bards are already creating numerous songs about your esteemed mother and familiars. I wish to create songs about you. And I am also interested in the events that took place in Alcrem…”

Though Rudolf said that, he was more interested in how Vandalieu thought during the events in Alcrem, rather than the details of the events themselves.

Vandalieu found this slightly curious, but he agreed to this, assuming that it was because Rudolf wanted to create songs that are different from those of other bards.

However, the one on the interviewing side, Rudolf… Randolf, was intensely worried about his true identity being revealed.

Has he still not realized that I am Randolf ‘the True?’ And the one guarding him is too skilled. Even I can only barely detect their presence, and I know nothing of their nature. And the boy himself…

Randolf had noticed the presence of Gufadgarn, who lurked in the interstitial space behind Vandalieu. He felt no murderous intent or suspicion being directed towards him… just an indifferent presence that was observing him.

This presence felt extremely ominous to Rudolf – a kind of presence that couldn’t be exuded by another mortal.

Vandalieu was under the protection of such a being; there was no possibility that he was just an ordinary person. Rudolf had already been aware that Vandalieu was extraordinary – ever since learning that he was the tamer of the Hellhound he had encountered.

However, after infiltrating this city, he had become aware that Vandalieu was surrounded by allies who were as powerful as A-class adventurers, or even more powerful than that. And it wasn’t just his strength – he controlled the red-light district and the slums, did charitable deeds such as donating to the orphanage and interacting with the orphans there, and for some reason, was very passionate in musical activities.

In truth, upon learning of Vandalieu’s extraordinarity, Randolf had thought to infiltrate the city and investigate him with the objective of determining whether he was someone who would bring about a calamity that would cause the collapse of the nation, but he had already arrived at the conclusion that this was not the case.

To Randolf, the collapse of the nation was not something like a coup d’état where the king and prominent noble houses were removed and replaced. It was the physical destruction of cities and villages.

But there were no signs that Vandalieu intended to do any such thing. In fact, he seemed like he would support poor villages to get them back on their feet and break down criminal organizations to release cities from their grip.

These were widely considered to be benevolent deeds, and Randolf himself couldn’t think of any reason to get in his way.

It was possible that his deeds would cause great problems for the king and nobles to maintain their rule over their territories, but no matter how greatly Randolf was indebted to their ancestors, he could not care for them to that extent.

Randolf did not serve the nation, nor did he care to pretend to be the defender of the kingdom. There was no reason for him to do the bidding of the king and nobles free of charge.

To begin with, it was the responsibility of those in power to improve the lives of the people and prevent poverty and the deterioration of public order. Unless those creating a revolution were brutally massacring innocent people, there was no reason for Randolf to deal with them when he hadn’t even been requested to do so.

Even if Vandalieu was left unchecked, resulting in the Ghouls and other members of Vida’s races gaining an improved standing in society and Vida’s worshippers increasing in number, none of that was of any inconvenience to Randolf… If members of Vida’s races decided to persecute those of other races in revenge for their past persecution, it would be a different story, but it would be too cowardly to act on an uncertain danger.

Thus, Randolf had thought about simply leaving the city when his objective was accomplished, but just in case… and out of curiosity, he had decided to meet Vandalieu before leaving the city.

However, Randolf regretted that now.

Curiosity killed the adventurer, huh. I’ve become lax since I retired, it seems.

Vandalieu was not directing murderous intent, hostility, or ill will towards Randolf. He was expressionless but friendly. Randolf could tell that he was answering his questions as accurately as possible, using a wide range of vocabulary to make his answers easy to understand.

His voice was flat in tone but pleasant to the ears, and listening it to it made Randolf feel like the tension was leaving his shoulders.

There was no light in his eyes but they were deep, and Randolf felt the urge to gaze at them… peer into them.

This sense of comfort, which can even be described as happiness, is dangerous. If I become submerged in it once, I will never be able to leave again. It’s like a bottomless swamp. The atmosphere around Kanako changed suddenly the other day, but… it cannot be compared to this.

Staying wary, Randolf kept his distance from Vandalieu and continued his interviewing with caution.

What Vandalieu perceived as respect was actually Randolf choosing his words carefully out of wariness.

“Thank you very much. I think I will be able to create some good songs with what I have learned,” said Randolf… Rudolf, bringing the interview to an end and standing up from his seat to shake Vandalieu’s hand.

“Thank you for interviewing me. I’m glad to have been of use,” said Vandalieu.

Now, all that was left for Randolf to do was leave the city. Of course, it would be conspicuous to leave the city the moment the interview was over, so he would put his affairs in order first.

As I thought, it seems that he hasn’t realized my true identity. Some were suspicious of me, so I might be followed for a while after I leave the city, but… so be it. I’ll continue to pretend to be a wandering bard until I’m out of the Alcrem Duchy, he thought.

“Ah, by the way, how long will you be staying?” asked Vandalieu, as if having read Randolf’s mind.

Randolf, who has already turned away from Vandalieu, froze in place.

“… Not long. I think I shall say goodbye to Kanako-san this week and head for another city,” he said.

“Oh. I’ll be joining next week’s concert as a performer, so I wanted you to see me performing, but… also, I was hoping you could test my general purpose transformation equipment for performers, Rudolf-san. Is it too much to ask to postpone your plans?” asked Vandalieu.

I see. I am honored, but I have plans, so I’m afraid I must decline, Randolf was thinking.

But for some reason, his mouth spoke the exact opposite answer.

“I see. I have no urgent plans, so if it’s just one week…”

《The Level of the ‘Musical Instrument Performance’ Skill has increased!》

Vandalieu had made his public return to the city of Morksi, but that didn’t mean that he was continuously staying there. He was busily moving about, returning to the Demon Empire of Vidal to interact with the citizens and supervising the digging in Gartland.

Of course, there was no problem with leaving these tasks to the Demon King Familiars, which were split entities of himself, but he felt hesitant to do so.

“If I leave everything to the Demon King Familiars, my sense of identity might be in danger,” said Vandalieu, who was currently with Pauvina and Luvesfol.

He felt that he was at risk of forgetting which was the real him and which were split entities.

“I think you’re overthinking things, you know,” said Pauvina.

“Pauvina, I think so too, but I’m doing this just in case,” said Vandalieu.

“… I do not understand why you do not feel more endangered,” said Luvesfol.

“Luves, would you like to be brushed?” asked Vandalieu.

“Please forgive me.”

They were currently at the dig site in Gartland. They were halfway up a cliff in the land ruled by the Glaistigs, where Vandalieu had changed the terrain using the ‘Golem Creation’ Skill to create a small plaza.

He had created this plaza for things necessary to the digging, such as setting up a staircase for Golems to descend to ground level, but it also served as an excellent observation platform.

To the left and right was the green of the terraced fields created by the Glaistigs and the rocky surface of the steep, precipitous cliffs, and the blue sea where Doraneza and her Merfolk lived was visible in the distance, as was the town governed by Yurak.

Looking even further, there were the snow-covered mountains and cliffs where the Snow Ice Titans lived, as well as the desert of the Androscopions with their pyramid-like buildings.

In the future, perhaps this place could be used as a real observation platform. As he brushed Luvesfol with Pauvina, he made a mental note to make this suggestion to Zalzarit later.

Pain, who had started out as a Pain Worm but was now a moth-like monster that was larger than a Wyvern, made a sympathetic noise as he touched Luvesfol’s head with his antennae.

“I-I do not need your pity,” said Luvesfol, batting Pain’s antennae away, causing Pain to let out a shocked noise. “I am not simply losing myself in pleasure!”

However, considering that Luvesfol was currently lying on the ground, unable to stand on his hind legs, these words seemed to be nothing but putting up a brave front. Pain continued touching his head with his antennae over and over.

“I am telling the truth! You are too persistent, Pain! Even if you tell me to ‘be more honest with myself,’ I do not know what you are talking about!” Luvesfol insisted.

“I don’t think you sound very convincing in that position,” said Vandalieu.

“At least your body’s being honest, Luves,” said Pauvina.

Luvesfol screamed, his wings and tail shuddering as if they were convulsing. “MERCYYYYY!”

But it was inevitable for him to be in this state in the presence of both Vandalieu and Pauvina.

He knew that this would happen. As for why he had followed them to Gartland despite that, the answer was that this was a relatively comfortable place for him.

The gods of this place, including Povaz and Zozaseiba, had either fought as a part of the Demon King’s army or changed sides to join the Demon King’s army. The only exception was Marisjafar, so this was a pleasant place where there were no gods that he was on exceptionally bad terms with.

However, it wasn’t as if he was being persecuted in the Demon Empire of Vidal. After Marduke’s death, he had been punished by the Mountain Queen Elder Dragon God Tiamat, who was the Elder Dragon in Vida’s faction with the greatest authority. He had also made apologies to the other Elder Dragons. More importantly, he had become a familiar (companion) of Pauvina.

Luvesfol simply didn’t get along with the other Elder Dragons of Vida’s faction.

To elaborate on this further, even in Gartland, the gods looked at him with pity at the fact that he had become the pet of Vandalieu’s adopted little sister.

That damned Zozaseiba. He told me that with one more wrong step, he would have ended up like me. It’s true that I am nothing more than a pet, being brushed and forced to squirm and crawl on the ground… but this is not the end for me! I will break this Wyvern seal, regain my Elder Dragon form, and prove my worth! Luvesfol thought, but perhaps this was impossible for him; he was currently squirming and crawling on the ground in the present continuous tense.

… He had originally been an Elder Dragon with a mixture of the water and earth attributes, who preferred swamps and small-to-medium-sized rivers and lakes over oceans. He had been able to fly, but not with the freedom, speed and ease that he could with his current body.

In other words, as long as he was still a Wyvern, his original form was as distant as a dream within a dream.

Meanwhile, Earth Golems and Clay Golems were passing beside him.

“Can you really call this a tunnel construction?” Luvesfol asked Vandalieu, trying to distract himself from the pleasure that was coming from the parts of his body that had hair.

On this cliff, where the construction was taking place, was the entrance to a tunnel that was eight meters tall and ten meters wide.

While digging from Gartland to the surface, it was expected that numerous monsters would appear from within the dirt. Thus, the tunnel had to be large enough for combat personnel to fight.

It would be difficult for Titans like Borkus to swing large weapons inside a normal-sized tunnel, and monsters with forms that were specialized in moving about in small spaces would have the advantage.

However, digging such a large tunnel required double the labor. It was a simple increase in the volume of soil that was excavated and moved out of the tunnel. On top of that, the tunnel was more difficult to reinforce.

Vandalieu was solving these problems with the ‘Golem Creation’ Skill.

By turning the earth and rock into Golems and having them walk out on their own, the problem of the labor required to dig out and remove the soil was solved. The tunnel’s structure was kept reinforced by having Golems made of rock form pillars.

“It is tunnel construction,” said Vandalieu. “Normally, I should be hiring locals for the labor and paying them wages as a form of economical exchange, but that would take too much time, and it would be dangerous.”

“I wasn’t thinking that far,” said Luvesfol.

“With this method, even when monsters come out, the first thing they’ll attack is a Golem rather than a person, so it’s safer this way,” said Pauvina.

“And even if there’s bedrock in the way, I can work around it efficiently by turning just a part of it into Golems,” said Vandalieu.

Hearing this explanation, Luvesfol discarded yet another piece of his preconceived notion of common sense.

“The truth is, there is a faster method, and another method that is more traditional. I could dig a tunnel by firing my ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ or I could create a huge drill-shaped Demon King Familiar with Demon King fragments,” said Vandalieu.

With a Hollow Cannon capable of piercing and destroying the world, it would be possible to dig a tunnel very quickly, easily piercing any bedrock, Mythril or Adamantite ore veins, and the hundreds of monsters that were in the way.

Using a giant drill-shaped Demon King Familiar would take more effort than that, as the excavated soil would need to be removed, but it would be faster than the Golem transformation method.

“But if you used ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon,’ the tunnel would probably collapse right after you make it,” said Pauvina.

“Yes,” said Vandalieu. “It would create a huge length of tunnel all at once, and reinforcing it completely in time wouldn’t be possible. And I can’t make any adjustments to the direction and distance, and if I miscalculate, it might even end up hitting Botin in her seal.”

The seal on Botin created by the Demon King was certainly to be immensely powerful, as the God of Law and Fate Alda had been unable to remove it for over a hundred thousand years, but… there was no guarantee that it would protect Botin from a direct hit from ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon.’

To bring up another point, multiple uses of ‘World Piercing Destructive Hollow Cannon’ from deep underground would release a tremendous amount of Mana, and it was possible that Gorn and his allies would take notice of it.

If he were to use a large drill-type Demon King Familiar, it was possible that the enemy would detect the noise. And after much thinking, Vandalieu had chosen the current excavation method of turning the soil into Golems, believing that it was the best way in terms of the amount of effort required as well.

“As for us, we are content because we are able to sell the minerals mined in the excavation process,” said Zalzarit, the leader of the Glaistig race whose territory the excavation site was in, as she climbed up from below the cliff. “I have brought lunch,” she added, pointing at the basket hanging from the scorpion tail that she possessed because she was a Pabilsag. “We have prepared fruits and vegetables that were harvested this morning, as well as fish that has been salted with rock salt.”

Several Glaistigs climbed up onto the cliff after her.

“Thank you. Then let us take a break and have lunch,” said Vandalieu.

As if in response to these words, a lion-like roar echoed from inside the tunnel.

Everyone looked towards the tunnel to see a Ghoul with a lion’s head and five arms, one of which was made of semi-transparent spirit-form – Vigaro – leap out of the entrance, scattering the earth and stone Golems in his way.

“Vigaro, what’s the matter?” asked Vandalieu.

“Sorry, it was pretty tough for me alone!” Vigaro replied.

Five shining, silver Golems emerged from the tunnel behind Vigaro. Unlike the obediently-walking Golems that Vigaro had sent flying, these Golems raised their arms and let out a roar that sounded like screeching metal.

“The Golems are running rampant?!” Zalzarit shouted, feeling overwhelmed by the Golems’ roars and raising her guard.

“No, the Golems Van makes can’t do anything on their own. I think they’re wild Golems,” said Pauvina, showing no signs of panic.

“I’m sure they’re Golems that were formed when the minerals in the earth were contaminated by miasma, rather than Golems that were created by alchemy,” said Vandalieu.

He hadn’t reached that conclusion because the Golems were weak. He could discern that these five Golems were powerful enough to have made Vigaro choose to make a temporary retreat.

“They’re not made of iron. Mythril or Adamantite, perhaps,” Vandalieu said.

Wild Golems… naturally-occurring Golems generally possessed low intelligence and they didn’t use martial skills, let alone spells. They were monsters that used their superhuman strength and their toughness as their weapons. That strength was dependent on the materials that made up the Golems’ bodies.

Among such Golems, the ones made of Mythril and Adamantite were considered to be the most powerful, with the exception of those made of Orichalcum, which could only be refined by the gods.

Mythril had exceptional anti-magic properties, while Adamantite was extremely physically durable. These creatures were equivalent to Rank 10 monsters.

“Impossible! Groups of Iron Golems have appeared in tunnels in Gartland before, but to see Mythril or Adamantite Golems, five of them at once, no less! C-can we handle these?” said Zalzarit, unable to contain her panic at the sight of these powerful Golems that would not appear even as a Dungeon Boss in the ‘Five Gods’ Fortress.’

But before Vandalieu could give her a reply, the battle began.

“Drill, rocket, punch!”

Rapiéçage, who had been waiting at the tunnel’s entrance to deal with any monsters that appeared, launched both of her fists from her arms. The fists, which were rotating at a rapid speed, struck the Golems in their sides, the sides of their heads, their shoulders, and their chests, sending them tumbling onto the ground.

The Golems roared in rage as they struggled to stand back up. Rapiéçage retrieved her fists and looked at where her fists had struck the Golems.

“Marked ones, Mythril. The ones… not marked, are Adamantite,” she said.

If one looked closely, the ones she said were made of Mythril had a clear mark where her fists had sunk into the sides of their heads, but the Adamantite ones only had small dents.

“Got it～♪,” sang four of Yamata’s heads.

“‘Lightning Spear!’”

“‘Ice sphere!’”

Yamata unleashed a soundwave-cannon and several spells. The soundwave-cannon attacks focused on one of the Mythril Golems, while the spells focused on an Adamantite one.

Both Rapiéçage and Yamata were Zombies who had been created using multiple corpses… Rapiéçage had the torso of a female mage, the head of a female warrior, and the rest of her body was made of monster parts including her Ogre limbs. The base of Yamata’s body was a mutant Orochi, a lower-ranking species of Dragon, and her heads had been replaced by the upper body halves of beautiful women of different races. Neither of them had possessed a great amount of intelligence at first.

And yet, the two of them had decided on their own to use an attack to determine the properties of their enemies, then use that information to use different types of attacks on them. Vandalieu was impressed and moved by how far they had come.

“It’s easier to tell them apart now. Thanks!” said Vigaro, swinging his axe and dealing with the other three Golems.

“Vigaro, how many of them were there to begin with?” asked Vandalieu.

“I’m not sure! But when I defeated around ten of them, the tunnel’s ceiling collapsed a little!” said Vigaro.

It seemed that the Golems had been too powerful to fight in a drawn-out battle at the front of the tunnel that hadn’t yet been reinforced.

Indeed, by taking the fight outside, Vigaro was able to overwhelm three of the Golems on his own, using his axe that was made of Demon King fragments.

“Vigaro looks like he’ll be fine, but I think Rapiéçage and Yamata will take some time,” said Vandalieu. “Pauvina.”

“You got it,” said Pauvina in response, leaping into battle. “Let’s go, Luves, Pain!”

“Hmph, these are clearly enemies that I am poorly-matched against, but it cannot be helped!” said Luvesfol, spreading his wings and taking to the air to follow Pauvina.

Pain let out a screech as he flew into the air as well.

Pauvina’s Demon-King-fragment mace sank into the Adamantite Golem, while Luvesfol and Pain tossed the Mythril golem around for Rapiéçage’s fists and Yamata’s soundwaves to chip away at it.

Vandalieu was simply watching, as there was no need for him to get involved, but as he was giving commands, his ‘Group Commander’ Skill – an awakened, superior version of the ‘Commanding’ Skill – was active, strengthening the abilities of Pauvina and everyone else.

These Golems had no merits other than their strength and toughness, and they weren’t even capable of coordinating their efforts with each other. They were helpless against this assault.

The only thing that Vandalieu needed to worry about now was reinforcing the tunnel – but just as this thought crossed his mind, Luvesfol let out a scream after striking the Mythril Golem’s back with his tail.

“F-forgive me! Forgive me!” he shouted.

“Luves?!” Pauvina exclaimed in shock.

A white, bone-shaped object was protruding from Luvesfol’s tail.

“It seems that something was mixed with the Mythril ore and absorbed when it turned into a Golem,” said Vandalieu.

“For now, punch!” said Rapiéçage, as she and Pauvina left the panicking Luvesfol in Pain’s care and focused their attacks on the Mythril Golem.

The Adamantite Golem fell silent after Vandalieu fired a beam of light at it.

Pain squeaked as he released scales with tranquilizing properties on Luvesfol, who was lying limp on the ground, and he pulled the bone-shaped object out of Luvesfol’s tail.

But in the next moment, he dropped it in shock.

“Let’s have a look,” said Vandalieu.

“Vandalieu, it’s dangerous! For us, I mean! Nobody will be able to stop you if you go into a panicked state!” Vigaro shouted in warning.

“No, there’s no reaction from ‘Danger Sense: Death,’ and I have ‘Status Effect Immunity’ and ‘Deformed Multiple Souls.’ Ah, but just in case, Zalzarit, you and everyone else should stand back,” said Vandalieu.

“Alright! Everyone, get back!” said Zalzarit, having the Glaistigs step back as she continued observing the situation.

Vandalieu picked up the object. It seemed to be a fragment of bone. It hadn’t been fossilized… it was a white bone that still had its original hardness and density.

However, the front end of the tunnel was deep in the earth, far beneath the surface. It was a place where it was impossible for a bone to be discovered in a non-fossilized state. And it was difficult to believe that Mythril Golems had formed above the surface and dug more than ten thousand meters into the ground while carrying it.

Most importantly, there was an extraordinary amount of Mana inside the bone fragment.

“It seems to be the bone of a demigod, one that is so powerful that Valfaz and Radatel can’t even be compared to them. Do you know what it is?” Vandalieu asked Luvesfol.

Still lying on the ground, Luvesfol replied: “That is… the bone of the father of all Elder Dragons – Marduke-sama, the Dragon Emperor God.”

《The Level of the ‘Golem Creation’ Skill has increased!》